Malnutrition doubled since US invasion: UNICEF

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Iraqi girls watches as US Marines patrol Falluja over the weekend.Photo: AFP

The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, warned today that
the number of young Iraqi children suffering from acute
malnutrition has nearly doubled since the March 2003 invasion, as
health and living conditions have deteriorated.

Almost eight per cent of Iraqi children younger than five suffer
from chronic diarrhoea and protein deficiency, the agency's latest
reports said.

"This means that hundreds of thousands of children are today
suffering the severe effects of diarrhoea and nutrient
deficiencies," UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy said.

Diarrhoea, caused mainly by unsafe water and in some areas lack
of clean supplies, is responsible for 70 per cent of child deaths
in Iraq, the agency said.

Water treatment plants, already in poor condition, have suffered
more damage since the invasion. In Baghdad, 40 per cent of the
water system has been damaged, with water lines either broken or
contaminated.

Sewage treatment plants no longer work because of problems with
the electrical supply, poor maintenance, and damage caused since
the invasion.